By Paul Gotham
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Ryan Quackenbush (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima) notched his second win of the season and an opportunistic offense wasted little time as Monroe Community College’s Tribunes (18-17/2-6) split a doubleheader (3-6/12-1) with the Lackawanna College Falcons (15-8) in NJCAA action at Tribune Field, Wednesday.
Quackenbush allowed one run on three hits as he struck out two and walked two over five innings.
“I was just focusing on hitting my spots and painting corners,” Quackenbush said. “I wasn’t really worried about trying to power it by them because in the first game they hit it pretty well.”
The freshman right-hander retired the first seven batters he faced – five on ground balls and another on an infield pop-up.
“I knew if I hit my spots and let the defense work, it would be a good game,” he added.
His lone mistake came with one out in the fifth when he hung a pitch over the plate, and DJ Navocynski (Scranton, PA/Scranton) sent it over the fence in left field.
Quackenbush avoided further trouble when teammate Angel Rosario (Bridgeport, CT/Bullard Havens) made his second spectacular play of the day in right field. Playing shallow with the right-handed leadoff man Eric Grabowski (Scott Township, PA/Lakeland Area) at the plate, Rosario got a good break on a slicing ball bound to touch fair and bounce into foul territory for at least a triple. Instead a fully extended Rosario made a diving catch for the second out of the inning.
“That was a great play,” Quackenbush said. “At first I looked and he was so far in I thought there was no way. That was a triple on the wall. That was just a crazy play.”
“Quack certainly executed,” coach Dave Brust said. “He pitched well.”
The outing equaled the longest of the season for Quackenbush and was easily his best but might have come as a result of adjustment by the coaching staff. Assistant Tony Fuller called pitches from the bench throughout the doubleheader.
“I thought that the difference really was that Coach Fuller calls a good game,” Brust explained. “We decided we’re going to call the games rather than our catchers for right now and kind of educate them a little bit more and take that pressure off them… I thought it was very effective.”
Monroe’s offense batted around jumped on game two starter Jordan Brinson (Royal Palm Beach, FL/Palm Beach Central) for six runs on two hits in the home half of the first.
Jimmy Latona (Chili, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) led the game and reached with one of his four hit-by-pitch at bats of the day. Connor Lewis (Brampton, Ontario/St. Marguerite d’Youville) dragged a bunt down the third base line for a hit, and the Tribunes were off and running.
Rayshelon Carolina (Willemstad, Curacao/St. Jozef Academy) walked to load the bases. Ellington Hopkins (Lansing, N.Y./Lansing) plated Latona with a base hit through the right side of the infield. A wild pitch scored Lewis before Sjaghbar Martis (Willemstad, Curacao/Trinity Christian Academy) worked a base on balls. An error on an Alex Saville (Sherrill, N.Y./Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) ground ball scored two. Tommy LaCongo (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) and Rosario drove in a run apiece on ground outs to cap the frame.
Lewis highlighted a four-run fifth as the Tribunes clinched the victory. With bases loaded the freshman shortstop drilled a two-strike offering into the gap in right center for a triple.
“It was a fastball outside,” Lewis explained. “Bases were loaded. He had two strikes on me. I thought he had to bring the fastball.”
Lewis scored Latona, Rosario and Brett Sanders (Greece, N.Y./Greece Olympia) on the play.
“He had to come back to me,” Lewis continued. “He didn’t want to go three balls. I just went the opposite way with it.”
The win ended a five-game skid for the Tribunes.
“It feels good,” Lewis said of the win. “Hopefully we can carry it into the game tomorrow against Mercyhurst.”
Monroe squandered a two-run advantage in the opener.
Trailing by one, the Tribunes scored three in the third.
Ryan Prevost (Greece, N.Y./Greece Athena) singled into right field with one out and moved to third when Hunter Merrill (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland) reached out and slapped a hit-and-run single into the space vacated at short when Lackawanna’s Ronnie Sherman (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Norwalk) left to cover the bag.
Latona was hit by a pitch, Carolina walked in a run and Hopkins brought home two with a bounding ball over the head of Lackawanna first baseman Rich Condeelis (Tunkhannock, PA/Tunkhannock Area).
“We have to create our own offense,” Brust stated. “We’re going to have to hit and run. We’re going to have to bunt. We’re going to have to run counts deeper and steal bases. We have to be active.”
Sherman brought home a run for the Falcons with a two-out double in the fifth.
Lackawanna scored four runs, all with two outs, in the sixth. JD Marks (Horseheads, N.Y./Horseheads) drove in a run as did Bernard Brito (Fair Lawn, N.J./Fair Lawn). Sherman delivered the big blow with a single through the left side of the infield scoring two.
The damage could have been worse if not for Rosario’s first diving catch of the day – a back to the plate snare on a smash off the bat of Condeelis.
“That’s great defense,” Brust said. “That’s the thing he has impressed me the most with. While struggling at the plate, his defense is not only solid, it shines. He has saved us multiple times. He continues to make great plays.”
Monroe’s team defense played errorless ball for the day.
“We were competing the whole time,” Brust noted. “It certainly gives our offense an opportunity.”
Tom Mastrodonato (Penfield, N.Y./Aquinas) started and pitched five and two-thirds of game one. The right-hander was one strike away from getting out of the sixth. He gave up a leadoff double to Grabowski to start the game, but stranded the runner at third. Arbely Soto (Bronx, N.Y./Urban Assembly School for Careers) tripled and scored to start the second, but Mastrodonato retired seven straight before issuing a one-out walk Lazaro Duvergel (Lancaster, PA/McCaskey).
Luke Miller (Emmaus, PA/Emmaus) picked up the win in game one. The 6-1 right-hander struck out four over six innings of work.
Monroe returns to conference play when they host Mercyhurst NE for a doubleheader, Thursday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 pm.
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